A memorial altar is being set up to mourn the late Captain Park Hyun-woo, who died in a helicopter crash while extinguishing a forest fire in Uiseong, Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Uiseong County announced on the 27th that the altar will be operated in the multi-purpose auditorium of the Uiseong Youth Cultural Center. The operating period will be from 1 p.m. that day until 9 p.m. on the 29th. Captain Park’s body will be placed in Seongje Care Hospital from the afternoon of the same day.
The funeral will be held as a family service hosted by Gangwon Province on the 29th in Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do, and the deceased, recognized as having died in the line of duty, will be laid to rest at the Icheon National Cemetery.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s investigation committee is collecting the black box and other evidence from the helicopter to investigate the cause of the accident.
The deceased crashed at around 12:54 p.m. the previous day while performing firefighting operations with a helicopter in a mountain area of Gyoan-ri, Sinpyeong-myeon, Uiseong County. Witnesses to the accident testified that Captain Park turned the helicopter towards the mountain just before crashing to avoid heading towards residential areas.
Uiseong County is also planning to operate a joint memorial altar for other victims of the Uiseong forest fire besides Captain Park.